Cruzio Newsletter - Number 16, July 20, 1998
(The newsletter is important, some items may affect your service - please
at least scan the headlines so you'll catch anything relevant to you)
1. Cruzio now connecting at V90
2. Computers for rent, cheap, at our downtown office
3. Computer beginner? Workshops on Wednesdays
4. Announcing INTERNET OFFICE accounts - a change to the way we do yourname.com
5. If you have an older MACINTOSH, please read this!
6. CGI, Java, animation, advanced topics: Summer classes
7. Cruzio's connection is direct, not through Scruznet
8. Cruzio's home page receives 1,000's of hits per day -- are you listed?
9. New Area Code
10. Geekspeak
11. T-shirts for new customers
12. About This Newsletter
13. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. Cruzio now connecting to V90 modems
Okay, the 56k folks finally decided on a unified standard for all the 56k
modems. It's called "V90" and you can buy one of these modems in a store,
or possibly have your modem upgraded (check with the manufacturer).
Cruzio has installed V90 in our modem servers and should be able to connect
just fine to modems following this standard. Note that "k56flex" modems still
won't connect at high speeds unless they are upgraded. Please check the
information at:
www.cruzio.com/support/highspeed.html
2. Computers for rent, cheap, at our downtown office
As you know, Cruzio has a superb connection directly to the Internet.
And now we are renting computer time at our downtown office to people
who'd like to experience T1 speeds. The cost: $4.00 per half-hour.
(That's right, it's less than most other places). Currently they are
set up for browsing, reading email, and playing games on the Net.
The computers are zippy new Pentium Pro's and have 17" monitors.
So next time relatives are visiting, send them down to Cruzio for
a few hours of Internet amusement to get them out of your hair.
3. Computer beginner? Workshops on Wednesdays
Cruzio is teaching a New Computer User workshop every other Wednesday,
from 6:30pm to 7:30pm (or so) for $15.00.
The workshop is directed at the "newbie" who wants to learn how to use
Eudora, Netscape or Internet Explorer mail and wants to get comfortable
browsing the web. We will also cover basic Win 95 & Mac tips that pertain
to using e-mail, web browsing, and general computer knowledge.
Please bring your questions to this beginner's workshop: there's no set
curriculum and the instructor will be guided by the customers' needs. It
will be "hands-on" and there are both Mac and Windows machines available
to try. The teachers are pleasant, patient, and understanding, so if you
or someone you know gets tense around the computer, this can help. Call
to reserve a space or try just dropping by our shop on a Wednesday at
6:30pm. The next class is July 22.
4. Announcing INTERNET OFFICE accounts - a change to the way we do yourname.com
Customers have asked and so we are delivering a complete package of services
that gives you a "virtual office" on the Internet. That means you dial
in and have your own custom suite: unlimited email names, web and ftp
access, all possible at your own company or fantasy name (yourname.com).
This level of customized service used to be available only only to big
companies like ibm.com or microsoft.com. Now it's available, through
Cruzio, to people with a smaller budget. Prices start at $75 to $105 for
3 months of service. Please call for more information. If you are
transferring from an old-style domain to a new one, there is a short
waiting period and we'll want to walk you through the differences.
5. If you have an older MACINTOSH, please read this!
Cruzio has made changes in the last 6 months to stabilize our network
connections -- and we will continue to make improvements. We hope you've
been pleased with the excellent, speedy connection we've been maintaining.
Unfortunately, future changes will eventually affect our customers with
older Macintosh computers.
If you have a Macintosh running system 7.1, 7.5 (including 7.5.1, 7.5.3,
and 7.5.5), you will need to make some simple changes to your software
to keep your connection running smoothly. Please email tech support at
support@cruzio.com, or call us at 459-6301 so that we can set you up with
the new system. The email will just take a moment and will save you
confusion and service interruption in the coming months.
6. CGI, Java, animation, advanced topics: Summer classes
This summer, due to customer requests, we are reviving the "Webmaster"
series of classes. Webmaster classes are targeted for the person who
has already designed pages and wants to learn the advanced tools available.
The pages created with these techniques are very impressive:
Shopping Cart and other CGI scripts, Animation, Java scripts, Client Side
Imagemaps.
As always, we've got our classes on Using the Internet (from beginner to
"power user") and Intermediate classes (on publishing your stuff on the
Web). These topics, too, have been very popular and our teachers get high
marks for speaking ability, technical know-how and patience.
We are also happy to arrange custom classes for your group or company
when needed.
Check our web page at
www.cruzio.com/classes
for more information, or call us (459-6301) or stop by to register.
7. Cruzio's connection is direct, not through Scruznet
Just FYI to our more savvy users: Cruzio used to route traffic through
Scruznet, another local provider. But we've had a direct connection to
the Internet backbone (UUNET in San Jose), not through Scruznet, for some
time now. We still maintain a Scruznet connection for a backup.
Because of the switchover from Scruznet, some customers may have problems
reaching Scruznet or UCSC web pages. If this happens to you, please give
Cruzio support a call.
8. Cruzio's home page receives 1,000's of hits per day -- are you listed?
The award winning Electronic Guide to Santa Cruz County at
www.cruzio.com is visited by thousands of people every day.
Make sure your web page is listed. It's easy! Just go to
http://www.cruzio.com, go to the Community Information Resources
section and follow the link to get listed.
Local web pages submitted for listing are also automatically
indexed in our popular Search Santa Cruz County search engine.
How popular? Hundreds of people do local searches with this engine
every day.
What's the point of publishing on the web if nobody can find you?
This service is free of charge to anyone in the Santa Cruz area.
Get listed!
9. New Area Code
On July 11, 1998 Santa Cruz's area code changed from 408 to 831.
Since most customers dial Cruzio locally, this will not affect your
software settings. However, if you dial in from another area, you'll
have to type in "831" rather than "408". Pacific Bell has assured us
that there will be no changes to the connection charges, but if you are
concerned about this please do contact them.
10. Geekspeak
Cruzio's beloved founder Chris joins fellow geeks every Monday night at
6:30 on KUSP 88.9 FM for Geekspeak Radio. Tune in and turn on with
the geeks, see http://www.geekspeak.org for more information.
11. T-shirts for new customers
Cruzio has contracted with Barrios Unidos to make a bunch of t-shirts
which we are giving to new sign-ups. The only way you can get a t-shirt
is to sign up for a new account, so get a friend to sign up! Barrios
Unidos is an excellent community organization which finds ways to channel
youth into constructive, not violent, activities. You can find information
about them at:
www.cruzio.com/~barriosu
12. About This Newsletter
Cruzio doesn't like to waste bandwidth with extra email, but
we sometimes have events and announcements that users need
to know about. This seems like the most efficient way to let
people know what's happening. Hope it's helpful. Please email
support@cruzio.com with any comments or questions.
13. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
To reach the Cruzio Information Center, for online technical and
sales information:
http://www.cruzio.com/support
To dial in to Cruzio, set your software to dial one of the numbers
below (note: we've expanded and joined modem pools, so you may be
using another number. If so, don't worry, it still works just fine).
56k: 459-9408 (see http://www.cruzio.com/support/highspeed.html to
begin using this speed)
33.6 kbps or 28.8 kbps modems: 459-6230
14.4 kbps modems: 459-6200
To call Cruzio, use one of these numbers:
423-1162.................Our main number, to leave a message
423-7529.................Our status line, check on system problems
459-6301.................Our "human line", from 12-6 Monday through
Friday. Talk to a human being.
To send email to Cruzio, use one of these addresses:
support@cruzio.com.......for technical support
office@cruzio.com........for billing and ordering information
webmaster@cruzio.com.....for questions about Cruzio's World Wide
Web service
Thanks very much from Cruzio:
Chris, Peggy, John, Deana, Julianne, Patton, Gloria, Kathy, Mark,
Martin, Georgette, Jay, Tapati, Hilary, Jessica, Amy,
Matt and Liz (the grownups);
Jake and Annika (the kids) and Carolyn Rose (the baby)
In our haste to mail out Newsletter #16 earlier today, we left
out references to a number of helpful web sites. Please have a
look at the appropriate web page before calling us.
1. If you are interested in using V90 for 56k speeds to Cruzio:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/highspeed.html
2. If you have an older Macintosh, or for any other reason want
to switch to server-assigned addressing:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/switchover.html
3. If you are interested in switching to one of our new "Internet
Office" accounts (the ones where you can get unlimited email addresses
at your domain):
http://www.cruzio.com/support/domainswitch.html
We apologize for leaving these out of the earlier letter!
Thanks,
--The Folks at Cruzio/The Internet Store
